China: Head of China’s National Energy Administration probed for graft

Nur Bekri, head of China’s energy agency and one of the architects of China’s national coal policy, has been detained for corruption, the Chinese Communist party’s anti-graft agency said on Friday.

He was detained for “suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations”, according to the Central Committee on Discipline Inspection. Chinese officials whose detention by the feared CCDI becomes public are nearly always convicted.

As Chinese coal prices fell during a slowdown in the economic growth starting around 2012, Mr Bekri was one of the staunchest advocates for blocking imported coal shipments from Australia and elsewhere in order to maintain demand for Xinjiang coal.